Introduction-Learning Disorders (LD) often remain invisible in Indian setting, the QoL of affected children and their families is an unstudied area of research.

Methods- A case control study was conducted at a DBP clinic in an academic institute in Mumbai after IRB approval.37 newly diagnosed cases with specific learning disorder, aged 10-12 years without comorbidities were enrolled. 49 age, gender, grade and SES matched neurotypical controls were also enrolled after consent. Both cases, controls and their parents were administered the Kid-KINDL^R QoL questionnaire.The questionnaire had 6 subscale scores-physical well-being, emotional, self-esteem, family, friends and school functioning.

Results-The cases self-reported concerns in the domains of school functioning (p<0.00), family relationships (p<0.05).On paired t-test, correlation was 0.39 between child and parent report on physical well-being domain. Multivariate analysis suggested that participating female parents were 35.5 times more likely to report poor QoL(p=0.04). The multivariate analysis of cases and parent reports on SES, subscales suggested that emotional wellbeing (OR 0.7, p=0.0) in the child and self-esteem (OR1.1, p=0.01), school functioning (OR1.29, p=0.00) domains in the parent report were of statistical significance.

Conclusion- Children with LD had poor quality of life in domains of schooling, self-esteem, physical well-being impacting the overall functioning of the child in the community. It is essential to create a platform wherein interdisciplinary professionals collaborate with families in creating a welcoming school and community culture for children with special needs.